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Harry "Moose" Watson

Harry Watson played in the early years of hockey's development. It was a time when the game was played for fun and even though professional leagues and contracts were sprouting up everywhere, the man they called "Moose" chose to stay as an amateur.

Watson started his career in 1919 with the Toronto Dentals before moving to the Toronto Granites the next year. By 1922 the Granites, led by Watson's unmatched stick handling and speed, won the Allan cup in both 1922 and 1923. The Allan Cup is given to the Canadian Senior Amateur champions.

As a reward for being the 1923 Allan Cup champions, the Toronto Granites were chosen to represent Canada at the 1924 Winter Olympics at Charmonix, France. It was there where Moose Watson enjoyed his greatest athletic achievement and established himself as perhaps the greatest of all Canadian Olympic hockey performers.

The first game was against Czechoslovakia. Watson and teammate Albert McCaffery were a two man wrecking crew, destroying the eastern Europeans 30-0. Watson scored 11 of the 30 goals.

The tournament also featured 20-0 win over Sweden and a 33-0 victory over Switzerland. By the end of the 1924 Winter Olympics, Canada won the gold medal by scoring 110 goals in just 5 games, and giving up only 3. Watson led the way with an unthinkable 36 goals on the outside rink in Charmonix, France!

When Watson returned with the gold medal draped around his neck, he was bombarded with offers from professional teams from just about everywhere. Everyone wanted the heroic Watson who was considered to be the best amateur player. The Montreal Maroons even offered a then-staggering sum of $30,000 to join their team, which would have made him the richest man in professional hockey. Watson responded to all of his countless offers by retiring.

The World War I pilot would come out of retirement but remained strictly amateur. He became a player and head coach of the 1932 Allan Cup winning Toronto Nationals.

Moose Watson died on September 11, 1957. Six years later he was forever immortalized as he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

1 comment:

Thank you, JoeExellent article. Would be interesting to watch such game, just for some education. To score 11 (!) goals in one game...Only Vsevolod Bobrov from early-Soviet hockey was able to do the same